


Fallout: Remnant

by lydia_rogue



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas, RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fallout, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Cannibalism, Canonical Character Death, Discrimination, F/F, F/M, POV Alternating, Post-Fallout: New Vegas - Freeform, blind!Fox, mute!Neo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-04-24 06:16:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 17,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4908499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lydia_rogue/pseuds/lydia_rogue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>“Where must we go... we who wander this wasteland in search of our better selves?”</em><br/>-The First History Man</p><p>After Summer Rose's death and the discovery that Yang's mother may still be alive, Ruby and Yang leave Primm in search of their father, who had left two years prior to join the New California Republic's army. However, the Mojave has become even more hostile ever since the death of Mr. House and the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. Along the way they discover new friends, fall in love and redefine family a time or two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is primarily a RWBY fic, if they were in the Mojave following the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. I'll add tags as I go. The rating won't change, nor will the archive warnings. While there will be heavy references to the Fallout universe, having played the games is not necessary to follow the story.
> 
> Shout out to [DubiousPhysics](http://archiveofourown.org/users/DubiousPhysics/pseuds/DubiousPhysics) for helping me edit (you should go check out his lovely pre-canon RWBY fic).

War. War never changes. When the dust settled after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, the battle was won, but the war raged on.

With Caesar's Legion on the run and the notorious Mister House presumed dead, the battle left behind a vacuum of power that the distant New California Republic simply could not fill. As months passed, a new power moved in, seeking to forge an alliance between the powerful families of the New Vegas Strip and finally drive out the New California Republic.

They are the daughters of an absent NCR officer and two different women - a Circle of Steel Knight who left when Yang was an infant and an ex-Raider who was recently killed by fiends. Yang and Ruby are left on their own to wander the wasteland in search of their father and mother...

***

Blake was kicking herself for getting cornered like this. She'd chosen the house because it was the only one in the area that had solid walls still - something that helped fend off the cold night air. Her eyes darted over her attacker's shoulders, looking past them to the two additional humans closing in, one with a long rifle and the other with a pair of power fists. Crap, she couldn't take on four, much less six.

 _Over two hundred years old and this is how you die._ She remembered when the vaults opened up and the smooth-skins poured out into the wastes like a disease that could never be cured.

Regardless, she lifted her katana - she wasn't going to go down without a fight. 

***  
Yang had noticed the ghoul following them about three days before she approached them. The woman had waited until after nightfall and stuck to the edges of the camp where she was mostly cast in shadow still. Ruby had not noticed the ghoul until that moment, and being the more excitable of the two sisters, shrieked and fell off the tire she was using as a seat.

"Don't mind her," Yang said, serving up a third dish of food and holding it out to her. Yang wasn't sure if the ghoul needed to eat, but the food she left out had been disappearing. "I'm Yang, jumpy over there is Ruby, and this is our dog, Zwei." 

Zwei whined a little at his name, his tail thudding against the tire a few times.

"There's a pack of nightstalkers in the area," the ghoul said by way of greeting, ignoring the offered food. "If I sit with you, they won't attack." Her voice was rough around the edges, but from disuse, scarring or dry mouth it was hard to tell. If Yang hadn't known she was a ghoul, she probably wouldn't have been able to guess. She was sticking to the shadows, the heavy radiation scarring almost invisible in the night. 

Ruby finally righted herself, reaching around to take the food from Yang. "Thank you..." she trailed off, but the ghoul ignored the prompt. 

"I'll take first watch," she said, walking away silently until the darkness completely engulfed her.

"Yang, who is that?" Ruby hissed across the fire.

Yang shrugged. "We saved her a week ago, I think. She's been following us ever since. It's kept the coyotes off our backs, I'm not too concerned." 

Ruby looks over at the ghoul's back one last time before crawling into her bedroll.

***

Yang wakes to someone gently shaking her shoulder. "Okay, Ruby, be there in a sec," she muttered, rubbing the heels of her hands across her eyes. But it wasn't Ruby's silver eyes staring at her, it was the ghoul's golden ones.

"The nightstalkers are gone," she said, voice pitched low as to not wake Ruby. "It's almost dawn. I'll be off." 

"Thanks," Yang said. "Do you need anything before you go?" But the ghoul had disappeared before Yang had even finished her question. She suspected that the woman hadn't gone far, there were rock formations in the area that would put her out of sight.

She sighed and shook her sister awake.

"Five more minutes," Ruby demanded, waving off Yang's insistent shake.

"Five minutes only," she replies out of habit, knowing Ruby wouldn't be up for at least twenty, then jerks in surprise. Surely she was imagining that soft chuckle she heard carried on the wind.  
Twenty minutes later Ruby crawls out of her bedroll. "You didn't wake me for my watch!" she accuses. 

Yang hesitates, but only for a second. She doesn't think Ruby would understand if she told the truth - and honestly, Yang's not sure she understands either. "With our new friend helping, we had it covered." Skirting around the truth - technically not a lie, even if it's not the whole of the truth either. 

"If we leave quickly, we should make Freeside in another day or two," Yang said, tidying up camp. "From there we can try to find dad."

Ruby nodded, her eyes narrowing. "My dear sister, you didn't stand watch last night either, did you?"

Yang winced. "No," she replied, pulling on one of the two power fists she wore. "She woke me up not long before I woke you. Let's get going, if we head out now we might make Freeside tomorrow."

***

Blake watched the two smooth-skins - Ruby and Yang - tidy up their camp, packing up to head further on towards Vegas. 

They hadn't attacked her that first day and she was intrigued. _They'll turn on you._ Adam's voice echoed in her head, warning her away from the humans. But something kept her attention, made her follow them despite the alarms in her head.

The first night the blonde one left out food, she fed it to their dog - Zwei. There wasn't much that could harm her now, as she'd discovered over the past couple of centuries, but better safe than sorry. But Zwei was no worse for it, and he happily shared the meals with her when she snuck into camp - always when Blondie (Yang) was standing watch. 

But there'd been a pack of nightstalkers. Friendly to her in general, but they'd definitely been sniffing out the camp and circling as if to attack. She didn't want the smooth-skins to kill the gentle creatures, so she took a chance and sat with them. She couldn't convince herself to sleep, but seeing the two of them sleeping peacefully while she stood watch softened her stance, if only a little.

Rather than abandoning them at dawn, she shook Yang awake - she was the less jumpy of the two. 

Blake was thrown by Yang's eyes when she woke up - she'd never seen anyone with violet eyes before, ghoul or no. "The nightstalkers are gone, it's almost dawn, I'll be off," she said, all in a rush, grateful she had planned out what what she was going to say ahead of time, and then bolted before she could hear Yang's response.

***

Mortimer loomed over Weiss, who was sitting with her back perfectly straight. If she put off an air of confidence, maybe Mortimer would be fooled.

"Do not make the mistake your sister made, young lady," he said, moving to pace around the room. His cane tapped out a slow beat that complimented every step he took. "Winter gave it all up - do you really want to be known as the same fool who left high society to try and help the Wastelanders?"

Weiss' stomach rolled as she looked down at the plate of food - just think of it as food and you'll get through this - in front of her. 

"For you to succeed me as head of the White Glove Society, you must be fully integrated into our ways. Do not disappoint me, daughter."

Weiss winced and picked up the cutlery - _You should have just come with me_ (the voice in her head always sounded like her older sister when she was in situations like this) - and eats.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby and Yang have made it to the New Vegas Strip, only to discover it's a little harder to get into than they'd originally planned on. They discover their ghoul friend knows a thing or two and can help them out.

Yang tried one of her award-winning smiles, but the Securitron was unmoved. “Passport please or submit to a credit check,” it droned - again.

“Dammit.” There were six - no seven - giant robots standing between them and the gate into the Strip. "You think we can take 'em?" she muttered to Ruby, adjusting the powerfist on either hand.

Ruby shifted from one foot to the other but left her sniper rifle on her back. “Let’s go, Yang, I’m sure there’s some way to get the caps together around here.” She didn't like their chances - especially not with the bloodstains and occasional body between them and the gate. It didn't look like anyone who had rushed it had gotten very far.

"What do you suggest, joining the radroach merchant on the side of the street?" Yang gestured to the man selling more than one protein containing questionable levels of radiation.

"Or the body guards?" Ruby suggested as they continued to make their way through Freeside, drawing out the question and pointedly _not_ looking at the other side of the road.

"Or we could make better use of our bodies." Yang gestured to the side of the road that Ruby was pointedly ignoring. There were two prostitutes flirting with the mercenaries-for-hire, though one winked when she noticed Yang looking. "Rawr." 

"Or you could come with me." The two of them jumped, not having heard the ghoul come up behind them. 

"You have an idea?" Yang asked, but the woman was already on the move.

"Has to be better than what we've thought of so far."

***

Blake led them through Freeside, carefully avoiding two thugs and three prostitutes trying to catch their attention. She had surprised herself, interrupting like that and all but forcibly dragging them away from where they had been discussing prostitution so casually.

Not that Ruby seemed to mind Blake distracting them. (She actually looked rather relieved.) Neither of them asked where they were going, even after they left Freeside and followed the outer wall of New Vegas.

 _Just repaying my debt_ she told herself. _They saved my life, I'll get them into the Strip and then we don't owe one another anything._

“Zwei won’t be able to go in with us,” she cautioned as they approached Westside. She’d always liked this area a little better than Freeside - she could blend in better here.

“That’s fine, I’m sure he can entertain himself, chase some radscorpions or something.” They had seen a couple in the distance as they were making their way around the outer wall of New Vegas and approached the makeshift fortress that was Westside.

But Blake ignored the main structure in favor of a sign that just read “THORN” with an arrow point down from the first leg of the R.

“Uhhh…” Yang said as the approached the manhole cover. “This seems safe.”

“I know the owner.” Blake knelt down and unstrapped a crowbar from her bag and offered it to Yang. “Would you? I normally just knock but you’d be able to actually open it.”

With little effort, Yang was able to wrench the cover off. “Stay, Zwei.” He whined but sat down without further protest.

They scrambled down the ladder - Blake first - and into the mostly abandoned sewer system. 

Two large hand-painted signs dominated the first room, the words in the same blood-red paint as the one outside.

_Rules of the Thorn:_  
Clean kills only. The moderator will interfere if the kill is not swift and you may be barred from future combat.  
Only our handlers are allowed to enter the cages.  
You must speak with Pyrrha before entering the arena floor.  
The animals are NOT for sale 

The last entry on the list was hastily scratched onto a piece of paper and attached with a nail.

_We have the following available:_  
Giant Mantis  
Radscorpion  
Fire Gecko  
~~Nightstalker~~  
Cazador  
Deathclaws 

_**Nightstalkers will not be available moving forward.** _

"That one's new," Blake commented, studying the tacked-on piece of paper closely, then shook her head and stepped out into the main room, Ruby and Yang following.

“Woah, cool!” Ruby said, leaning precariously over the railing of the catwalk to look down at the arena. The open floor was surrounded by cages filled with a variety of monsters - from the larger than life deathclaws to the barely visible giant mantises. 

“Hello!” a woman called from across the room, walking towards them. “How may I be of ass- oh, hello Blake!”

“Pyrrha,” she said, closing the distance between them and smiling up at the much taller woman. “It’s good to see you again.”

“As it is you. Especially with companions!”

Blake smiled a little and pointed to her two companions in turn. “Yang, Ruby, this is Pyrrha. She runs the Thorn.”

“Any friend of Blake’s is a friend of mine. Welcome. How can I be of assistance?”

“Well, we were hoping to find some work,” Yang explained.

“I would be happy to oblige. Speaking of, Blake, did you find any?”

The ghoul smiled, though it was a little sad. “One nest, abandoned for some time, a lot of eggs smashed and dead nightstalkers everywhere.” She pulled out a small bundle of maybe a half dozen nightstalker eggs and offered them to the woman.

“Atrocious.” She took the eggs, carefully cradling them in her arms. “I will do my best, Blake. Two hatched from the last nest you brought in. They made it out through the back way just a day or two ago.”

“You’re releasing _nightstalkers_ into the desert?” Yang asked, incredulous.

“They’re gentle creatures!” both Pyrrha and Blake snapped at the same time.

Yang and Ruby both took a step back and hold their hands up in surrender. “They’ve just always attacked us on sight.”

“I’ll teach you what I know,” Blake promised. “But no more attacking them.”

“I’d just as soon avoid fighting them if I can,” Yang agreed, and Ruby nodded along, but only after Yang stepped on her foot.

“So what’s the job?”

***

Pyrrha had helped them map out a course, pointing out a couple of key landmarks along the way to Vault 22.

"Please be careful, I am sure you know what you are getting into, but from what I have heard Vault 22 is a no-fly zone for the New California Republic soldiers." 

Ruby traced her finger over the map going from the entrance of the Thorn to Vault 22 and back again. "Doesn't look like it'll take more than a few hours to get there. Once we're there we'll scope it out, see what it's like then make a decision."

Pyrrha looked over to where Blake and Yang were consolidating supplies. "You should be fine. I'll see you in a day or two."

***

_Dear Winter,_

_You were right, you know._

_With all the research that went into the war and building the vaults, you would think that someone would have built a time machine so I could go back to the day you asked me to come with you and say yes instead._

_But I guess that’s how life goes. Mortimer is still wanting me to succeed him as the head of the White Glove Society. I think Marjorie expects me to do the same and then change things back the way before… well, the way you knew it._

_Chauncey’s dead, I don’t know if you knew. He tried to alert your friend - the courier man - though if he succeeded I don’t know. Mortimer had him killed for attempting to leak information._

_I hope you’re happy and safe. Part of me wishes you’d come by, but I know that would be dangerous._

_Maybe I’ll come try to find you._

_Stay safe._

_Your Darling Sister,  
Weiss_

Weiss deliberately folded the letter into thirds, then pulled a lighter out of a nearby drawer, setting the letter alight.

Once it had burned to ash, she laid her head down on the desk and wept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was supposed to be information about the Fallout 'verse, but ended up being a lot longer-winded than I intended and so I broke it up into two chapters.
> 
> There is also a second piece [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4915237/chapters/11276119) that will include side stories and drabbles about other characters and stories as I think of them.
> 
> (I think I forgot to say this last week - I'm aiming to update about once a week).


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh I'm so sorry about the delay, I got pretty ill this week which is not conducive to writing so to compensate it's almost as long as the other two combined.

"Look, buddy, I don't know what else to tell you. The animals aren't for sale. If you want to fight, you have to talk to Pyrrha, and she's out at the moment." Jaune let out a nervous laugh.

The man in white blew a puff of smoke in Jaune's face. "I don't know what else to tell you, Jaunie-boy. Pyrrha and I came to an agreement and I'm just here to collect the goods and drop off the payment. I'll even throw in a little extra for you."

"Really, though, Pyrrha's already pissed about the yao-guai from the other day, and I really should double check with her first - but she's out checking on Nora, who probably did something ridiculous again, like ride a deathclaw halfway across the Mojave. If you just wait a few more minutes, Pyrrha'll be here."

"Jaune?" Pyrrha's call caused the other man to jerk to attention. 

"I'm afraid this is where we part ways, Jaunie-boy. I really wish you'd just taken the caps and gone." 

He turned to leave, brushing past Pyrrha on his way out, climbing the ladder and escaping to the Mojave before she could say anything.

***

Quite frankly, none of them wanted to proceed into the vault. The door was wedged open enough that they could probably get in just fine, but...

"Stay out; the plants _kill_?" Yang was the first to say something about the sign. It had once welcomed people to the vault, but someone edited it with spray paint sometime in the last 200 years. 

It would sound like a joke if there weren't lush plants growing a hundred feet in every direction from the vault door. 

Even Zwei was reluctant to walk on the lush green carpet.

"It can't be that dangerous, can it?" Blake asked.

Ruby studied the plants through her sniper scope. "I can't see anything moving. Maybe if we don't eat the plants we'll be fine?"

"Somehow I don't think that's what they meant..." Yang looked around at the dust-covered ground they stood on. Finding a suitable rock, she threw it as hard as she could into the forest of plants.

They all jumped back as a small swarm of not-so-small praying mantises emerged from the foliage. The largest of swarm must have stood 3 feet tall. Judging by the way the mantises were starting to move closer, they had seen the four of them.

Ruby didn't hesitate - she was still looking down the scope of her sniper rifle - shooting one. 

"Ruby, save your ammo!"

"What are you going to do, punch them?"

Yang considered the swarm of insects for a moment. She wouldn't be able to do anything until they were closer. "I was thinking about it." She darted out into the thick of them.

"Yang!" both her sister and Blake shouted, switching to blades and following - Zwei, who was barely bigger than the insects, hesitated for only a moment longer before jumping in.

Once they were all in the fray, it didn't take long to kill the mantises - even with their size, in the end they were just insects. Large insects that bit and punched back, but insects nonetheless.

It seemed almost too easy, none of them relaxing until several minutes after the last mantis fell. Zwei relaxed first, laying down to chew on one of the mantis' heads. 

"Zwei, don't eat that!" Ruby admonished, pulling it out of his mouth.

Blake shrugged, pulling out a small knife to cut the legs off. "They're pretty decent eating, actually. Though..." she studied the char marks on one of them. "How did this one get burned?"

"They're edible?" Yang crouched next to Blake.

"Yeah, you have to remove the chitin first, though." Blake grabbed one of Yang's hands, studying the hydraulic device. "I've never seen a power fist like this before, much less two."

"Be careful - the punching plates are heated," Yang warned. "My mother gave them to me, well kind of..." She pulled her hand back and made fists with both her hands, looking down at them. "Dad gave them to me when she sent them a few years ago, apparently. We're trying to get into New Vegas to find him to find out what actually happened." 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up painful memories."

"He'd let me think she was dead." She relaxed her hands and smiled up at her friend. "It's okay. I know you didn't mean to. Let's just find the mantis eggs and go?"

"There's nothing here..." Ruby said, glancing at vault door. "At least, not out here."

"All in favor of venturing into the creepy vault?"

"In favor may be too strong of a term, but I'll go with you guys."

"Yeah! Let's do this!"

***

Blake watched her two friends cautiously explore the first room of the vault - a bunch of broken terminals and rusted lockers - and went straight for the lockers. She couldn't hear any more things moving around so she might as well try salvaging what she could while she was there.

"What kind of ammo do you guys use?" she called over her shoulder.

"My shotgun takes 20 gauge shells."

".308." 

Blake winced at Ruby's answer. "Yeah, conserve your ammo. I use 10mm. Let's find you something that doesn't use ammo that's so hard to come by."

The whine she got in response was akin to Zwei's when he wanted food.

"Blake's right. Let's look around in here, see what's left. Probably not too picked over, right?"

Ruby kicked one of the locker doors that was hanging by a single hinge. "I guess."

"Not much here," Yang said, opening then slamming several locker doors back shut. "People may have made it this far, but probably not further in?"

"Seems reasonable." Blake moved to the door leading into the rest of the vault. "I'm curious as to what this vault's theme was. Probably something to do with plants."

"Theme?"

"They didn't exactly _advertise_ it when they were getting people to apply to live there, but apparently most of the vaults were little more than experiments." Blake picked up a can from the ground and tossed it into a patch of green further down the hall. "Makes me almost glad I didn't get into one."

"Weren't the vaults built before the War?" Ruby asked as they made their way further down the hall. 

"Yeah, I remember most of them being finished by about 2065 or so. My fiancée's parents paid for our applications as an early wedding gift."

"Hold up. It's 2283. How are you still alive?"

Part of Blake knew the blonde didn't mean anything by it, but she still whirled around and glared. "Not all of us got accepted into the vault program. Some of us had to fend for ourselves outside when the bombs fell and people ran for shelter." She gestured at herself - at all the scars, the patchy hair, the rough voice - and demanded, "Why do you think I look like this?"

Yang's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, I put my foot in my mouth a lot. There weren't many ghouls around Primm, and those that were didn't talk about their past." She reached out and put her hand on Blake's shoulder. "I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?"

Blake turned and looked down at the ground. "Doesn't really matter. I survived. Never found out what happened to Claire. By the time I remembered what had happened before the war, fifty years or so had passed and the landscape had been destroyed beyond recognition. I made my peace with her, though not with what Vault-Tec did. After the first hundred years I realized that they weren't building vaults to house people that would come out and live in the world. They were building vaults to house people whose descendants would come out and repopulate the world, and well, Claire and I weren't capable of having children together.

"But honestly, when the vaults opened... it was really ugly. So many of the vault dwellers didn't survive or the experiments were unspeakably horrible. There was one, out in California, where only the chosen overseer actually was sealed inside safely. The main door didn't close. It was supposed to be a way to see how people reacted to large amounts of radiation." Blake put her back to a wall and slid to the ground. "Only ghouls and corpses now." 

Yang sat down next to Blake, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She stiffened for a moment, then relaxed into Yang's embrace. 

"I don't mean to interrupt your moment, but what is _that_?" 

Ruby had wandered further in as they were talking, scouting ahead with Zwei. 

_That_ turned out to be some sort of burnt humanoid corpse - but the parts of the body that weren't charred beyond recognition were a brilliant green. Even Zwei wasn't trying to eat it after a cursory sniff. 

It was Blake who pulled out her sword and sliced open the corpse - two hundred years of survival in a desolate wasteland meant you weren't squeamish any longer - revealing green flesh all the way to the bone. "I've never seen anything like this."

"That's comforting." Yang nudged it with her boot. "It's dead. Let's just get in and get what we came for." 

The vault was eerily silent after the initial resistance outside the door and small patches of plants. There were signs of a large fire in most of the rooms, as well as several more human-plant corpses. 

They walked in silence through the metal tomb, leaving as much as they could untouched. Most of the terminals were scorched beyond use - and the one that wasn't Blake shoved off the table in frustration after gaining access. "Everything's gone. Every scrap of data about this vault is gone." 

More corpses - giant mantises, humans and human-plants. The deeper they delved into the vault, the thicker the foliage. 

"Don't plants need light to grow?" Ruby asked, nudging one of the fern-like plants with the barrel of her sniper rifle, as if expecting it to lash out and attack her. 

These, apparently, did not need much. The roots somehow found purchase in the unyielding metal and the leaves found enough light in the dark vault to flourish.

They sighed in relief when they made it through a stuck-open door into a natural cave and could hear the giant mantises swarming in the distance. They couldn't see them through the fog (and in the case of the humans, the dark) but hearing the insects was comforting. It also proved to be a bit anti-climactic when these were no bigger or tougher than the ones they fought outside.

"Something's been through here before and killed... whatever the fuck those plant things were. They can't have been talking about the overgrown bugs down here," Yang said, helping Blake cut off the legs for food while Ruby kept Zwei distracted and searched for more eggs. "Are we even going to be able to eat all of this?"

Blake shrugged. "They're slightly radioactive still, it takes a long while for them to go bad, but that also makes them good for trading."

" _Radioactive_?"

"Only a little, won't even notice unless you eat it. Makes them great healing items for me, but you might want to pop a RadAway if it's your primary food for a while. I've got a couple in my pack - I don't need them but you humans are always scrounging around for more so they're great trade items."

"Let's get these things back to Pyrrha and see where we stand. We've probably got a few dozen eggs - Pyrrha shouldn't need mantises for a while at least."

***

Weiss hadn't cried when Mortimer struck her, his rings slicing up her face.

She hadn't cried when he kicked her out into the desert with her dress cane, the clothes on her back and a pouch of bottle caps.

She hadn't cried when she discovered that the cost of a single stimpak was well over the meager fifty caps she had.

She hadn't cried when she found a mattress on the top floor of a half-destroyed building and decided to sleep there for the night.

But waking up in a strange place, cold, left eye swollen shut with a rat the size of a small child sniffing at her - she cried, just a little.


	4. Chapter 4

"Thanks again for this, Pyrrha."

"I know it isn't much, but you might be able to talk Ralph into making you passports. Blake, all you have to do is tell them you are one of my regular suppliers and they will be more than happy to assist you."

"Pyrrha, you don't have to..."

The taller woman waved off Blake's protest. "I know it can be hard as a ghoul, please, let me make this just a bit easier for you."

"Thank you."

***

"What happened to your face?"

Weiss winced and tried to smile down at the no-doubt well-meaning child. It had definitely become infected in the last two days, and she was almost desperate enough to see if vodka would at least clean out the infection - not that she could afford it with her dwindling caps. "What happened to your manners?"

"Suit yourself. But for five caps I know where you could get it looked at for free." His grin grew impish. "Or you could answer the question."

Weiss considered her options. The kid could be lying, but it was only five caps. On the other hand, it was five caps and she only had about 30 left. Or she could just tell him...

"Here." She pulled out the requested number of caps, but held onto them. "Where?"

His face fell and he kicked at the ground with his foot. "They'll be mad if I take your caps. It's the big fort over that way." He pointed out the huge building, then turned to leave.

She only hesitated a second. "If you can't take my caps for telling me about it, can you take them for escorting me there?"

***

"The Followers of the Apocalypse are pretty decent people," Blake said, pointing to the old fort down the road from where they were. "We might be able to trade some of our supplies there for some caps."

Even with Pyrrha's good word, it was going to cost them over 700 caps to secure two passports, so they made their way into the Old Mormon Fort. The large courtyard had a half dozen tents with plenty of people milling about. An armed guard stopped them not far from the entrance. "Can I help you?"

"We're looking to trade for supplies. Is that something we can do here?"

"Sure." He gestured towards one of the corner tents. "Doctor Farkas is in there, she's tending to someone but she'll be able to help you. We would ask that you stow your weapons away while you're here."

The three of them thanked the guard and took a moment to stash their weapons away in their bags before heading to the tent that had been pointed out to them. There were only two occupants - Doctor Farkas and another young woman with a nasty cut across her face. 

"Oh my god, what is _that_?" the patient exclaimed, her one good eye widening in surprise. Doctor Farkas straightened and looked at the three of them.

Yang stood up a little straighter. "Excuse me?"

"Not all of us got to hide in a vault, _smooth-skin_ ," Blake shot back.

"Miss Schnee, if you're going to accept our help you must treat everyone who walks into this tent with the same amount of respect that you expect from us."

"You're helping a _Schnee_?" Blake started to reach for her weapon, then, finding none, instead balled her hands into fists.

Yang's stance shifted to mimic Blake's. "Oh, you'd better stick around, doc, her face isn't going to be the same after I'm done with her."

"I don't need you to defend me, Yang!"

"Are you _threatening my patient_?"

"Okay, I think everyone should just calm down for a moment." Ruby moved to stand in front of Yang, one hand on her sister's chest. 

"Not all of us had a guaranteed spot in an unspoiled vault, _Schnee_." Blake spat out the word like an insult. "Some of us were left to fend for ourselves outside when the bombs fell! But I guess we were the lucky ones -we at least knew -"

"Blake! Outside!" Yang snapped, pointing to the doorway of the tent. 

She spared one last sneer for Weiss and then stormed out, Yang hot on her heels.

She was caught off-guard when Yang wrapped her arms around her in a hug. "I'm going to calm down for a moment and then we'll get Ruby and head somewhere else to trade. I just didn't want a fight to break out."

Blake shoved Yang off of her. "I _don't_ need you defending me."

"I know you don't, but we also don't need to get into a fist fight here, and if I was about to deck her, you probably were too."

Blake looked at the tent. Out here she couldn't make out exactly what was being said, but she could make out Ruby's shrill voice monologuing. "Her family killed a lot of people. They were some of the lead scientists behind the Vault-Tec experiments and they were given a spot in one of the 'control' vaults."

Yang stepped closer to Blake again, wrapping one, then both, arms around her in a gentler hug. "I know. But these are good people here. Let's not start a fight? Pretty sure the asshole isn't actually part of the Followers."

Blake smiled and looked up at Yang, pulling free of the hug. "Okay. Thank you."

Ruby bounded out of the tent. "Oh good, you didn't go far. Look, Weiss wants to apologize. She admits she can be kind of an ass sometimes and is offering to try and help get us into New Vegas if you're okay with it, Blake. Doctor Farkas said she'll kick Weiss out for that comment if you want, but that she's going to finish treating her face."

Yang reached down and gave Blake's hand a gentle squeeze. "Remember that she's not the person who did all this. I know it hurts, but those scientists are long dead. Ruby and I want to stay with you. If you want to travel with her for a bit, we can, but if not we'll find another way into New Vegas."

Ruby started to open her mouth as if to protest, but Yang glared. 

"I'll go talk to her," Blake said, smiling to herself when Ruby grabbed Yang's hand and dragged her away.

Weiss was sitting on the cot, looking down at where her hands were folded in her lap. When she looked up, Blake could see that the cut on her face was closed up but badly scarred and still swollen. "I'm so sorry. I don't have an excuse, and really it was inexcusable. I know what role my family had in the war and I found out recently what they're still doing to the Wasteland. I want to make it right. I don't know if I've got a free pass to New Vegas , but if I do and can help you in, please let me and I won't bother you again."

"If it was just me, I'd tell you to shove it, but it's important to Yang and Ruby. Get us into New Vegas and we'll see about more then."

Weiss smiled. "Deal."

***

With Weiss leading the way, they were able to walk straight into New Vegas without issue. It was almost a letdown. The securitrons didn't say a word or even attempt to engage - they just opened the gate up and let them in.

It was as if they'd been transported into a different time. There wasn't a run-down building in sight, and much to Blake's chagrin, she was the only ghoul. It was all bright lights, casinos and prostitutes. 

The occasional two-headed pack brahmin walking through dispelled the illusion a little.

The explosion and screaming _completely_ ruined it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost back to my original posting schedule. Whew. Also RWBY season 3 is coming up! I'm not going to incorporate much if anything from season 3 into this piece. I have a plot in mind and I'm going to stick with it. It's _not_ like this is canon compliant.


	5. Chapter 5

Yang took off towards the screaming, with her sister, Blake and Zwei hot on her heels. Weiss cursed and followed after the other three.

"Aren't we supposed to be running _away_ from explosions?" Weiss demanded as they came to another gate. The massive, cobbled together structure creaked, then collapsed, revealing a mass of humans and ghouls running away from a crater that had opened up in the middle of the street.

Alarms started to blare when things crawled out of the hole in the ground and Securitrons began to shout warnings and threats - though at the NCR troopers that were scrambling, the monsters or the civilians pulling out weapons, no one was quite sure. 

"No violence is permitted on the Strip."

Despite their intoning of "no violence," they started to fire up their weapons, aiming for the mass of creatures coming out of the crater. "Please obey all weapon laaaaaww..."

While the yelling had been distracting, it was far more ominous to hear the robotic voice peter out into a low whine before the screen flickered and shut off, the alarms cutting out a half second later. The monsters clawing their way up out of the sewers kept coming though, everything from the giant deathclaws to the (comparatively) tiny giant mantises. 

"That's... not good," Yang said. 

One of the biggest deathclaws roared and slashed at an immobile Securitron. 

"Watch the flying ones, they're poisonous!" Blake called out. With the deathclaws, Yang hadn't even noticed the cazadores flying out.

"What are those things?" Weiss asked. She'd twisted her cane open, pulling out a sword. Yang grabbed her power fists, pulling them on as fast as she could.

"I can't get the big ones, not without something to distract them."

Ruby unholstered her sniper rifle from her back. "You and Weiss get the little things, Blake and I will try and get the deathclaws."

"We will?" Blake held up her 10mil pistol.

"We've got more than a power fist and a sword."

But there was no more time to argue that point. The mass of creatures was starting to split up into manageable groups. The majority of the civilians had escaped through the destroyed wall into the rest of the Strip or had holed up in one of the Casinos. 

They divided themselves up and tried to take on as many of the creatures as possible. 

Blake was the first to run into issues with the deathclaws. "I'm not getting through their skin, I don't think I'm doing anything but irritating them."

"Okay. Help Weiss and Yang, maybe or try and get the NCR guys to help. I don't think I can get all of them on my own!" It came out a lot more panicked than Ruby would have really liked, but there were a dozen of the deathclaws, more fire-breathing geckos than she could reasonably count, giant radscorpions and rats the size of Zwei. Blake took off towards the Embassy, trying to round up the NCR guards who were staring slack-jawed at the scene in front of them.

She caught movement coming in from the downed gate and looked over her shoulder. A dozen armed guards - armed with fancy, expensive energy weapons. They didn't start shooting right away, apparently content to just watch and shoot at anything that got too close.

"Are you going to _help_ or are you just going to stand there?" Ruby demanded.

"Don't worry about the Van Graff bastards, we've got this." A lithe woman with brown hair, sunglasses and a beret was dismounting the biggest laser rifle Ruby had ever seen from a pack on her back. She was flanked by an extremely tall man armed with a huge sword and a smaller, dark skinned man dual wielding daggers. 

The woman opened fire on the deathclaws, her gun revving up like a machine gun but firing lasers.

"Woah," Ruby said, turning towards the cazadores that were attempting to swarm Weiss.

It took too long for the NCR troopers to join the battle and even longer for casino bodyguards to join in, but once they did the energy weapon wielding Van Graffs did as well in full force. They were able to ruthlessly cut through the beasts, creating piles of ash and goo where they once stood. 

Ruby slung her rifle back over her shoulder when the last monster fell. None of her group seemed injured and the three new people seemed okay. 

"Somehow I don't think they're going to let us into the Embassy now," the one wielding the oversized laser rifle was saying as Ruby approached them. "I think we're going to have to go to McCarran." She smiled at Ruby. "There's a woman coming this way, late teens, sniper. Part of the group that was helping earlier," she said to the man standing next to her. "Hello!" she called over to Ruby.

"Thanks for the help. We weren't really prepared for deathclaws when we came to Vegas. I'm Ruby." She pointed out her teammates in turn. "Yang, Blake, Weiss and the mutt's name is Zwei." 

"Coco," she replied. The smaller man to her right introduced himself as Fox and the sword-wielding man to her left gave his name as Yatsuhashi.

"You said something about a different NCR base around here? Yang and I are trying to track down our father."

Coco smiled a little. "Yeah, we're heading that way in a bit. One of our friends is waiting in Freeside. We can go get her, stop by the Wrangler overnight, try and catch up on the local gossip, find out what happened here, then go visit our old friend, Colonel Hsu."

"If you don't get thrown out of the camp, which is why we were going to the embassy instead of Camp McCarran in the first place," Fox said, rolling his eyes.

Coco was starting to retort when Yatsuhashi interjected. "There appears to be an issue with Blake and Yang." 

Ruby whirled around to see Blake running towards Freeside and Yang chasing an NCR soldier in the opposite direction. Making a fast decision, she took off after her sister, grabbing Yang just after she'd tackled the soldier to the ground.

"Yang! Yang, stop." She dragged her sister back. "What happened?"

Yang struggled against her sister. "That asshole called Blake a zombie."

Their new friends had gathered around Ruby and Yang. "I'd leave, otherwise she won't be the only one you have to worry about."

The soldier ran.

"Where did Blake go?" Yang demanded, looking around.

Ruby shook her head. "She took off towards Freeside. What happened?"

***

Yang laughed and wrapped her arms around Blake's waist. "That was exhilarating." 

She reached up to pick something out of Yang's hair. "I'll say."

The blonde smiled down at her and brushed her hand across Blake's cheek. "I'm glad you're okay."

Blake returned the smile, humming in agreement.

Caught up in the moment, she leaned in and pressed her lips to Yang's, who tightened her grip around Blake's waist. 

When the kiss ended, Blake pulled back just a little to judge Yang's reaction, but found herself twisting out of Yang's arms and running towards Freeside when a local NCR trooper walked past, commenting under his breath: "Didn't know they allowed zombie fuckers on the Strip."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So instead of actually working on this this past week, I decided instead to ask myself "But what if... soulmate AU?" and worked on that instead. I was almost 3,000 words in before I realized it was almost posting day for this and I had... nothing.


	6. Chapter 6

Blake ran with the words still echoing in her ears. The words didn't bother her anymore, at least not when directed at her. But Yang... Yang was too gentle for that. So Blake ran, and Yang didn't follow.

"Blake?"

A familiar voice calling her name just inside Freeside stopped her in her tracks. 

"Adam?" she called back, taking a hesitant step towards the ruined building she thought his voice was coming from. 

"Hello, Blake." She whirled around to see her former friend emerging from the shadows. "Didn't really expect to see you here with _humans_." He spat the word out like it was a curse. 

"What do you want, Adam?" She looked around, keeping an eye out for his bodyguards - she knew he never traveled alone.

"I was just wondering if you'd come to your senses. The world is cruel, Blake. You and I know that better than most." 

"I'm not going back with you. I'm done with that. Violence isn't the answer." She backed up, stumbling slightly as she crossed into the ruined building.

"It works, though. You were the first to admit as much when we targeted the super mutant camps near vault 12. Jason was an idiot when he decided to let that smooth-skin join him and it nearly cost him and his sheep their lives." He rolled his eyes and took several steps forward. "Not that Jason Bright is the best example, but in the end even he had to resort to violence to protect himself against the smooth-skin that wanted to kill them all."

"He tried, at least. His methods were flawed too, Adam!" Blake snapped, backing up until her back was against a wall. "Lying and pretending a human is one of us isn't the answer either." It wasn't ideal but it probably was for the best so no one could sneak up behind her.

Adam moved closer and put a hand on Blake's shoulder. "And lying to yourself and pretending you're one of them isn't the answer either. How long do you think your companion will tolerate your touch? You think we're the only ones who are called cruel names?" Blake pulled back, eyes widening in horror. "Or is it she reminds you of Claire?"

"I... what? No?" 

"Oh Blake, whenever you're ready, I'll be around. We're going to take back the Mojave." He leaned in closer, whispering in her ear, "And do you really want to be on the side of the Schnees, when it's all said and done?"

Blake shrank back. "It wasn't her, she wasn't even born yet!"

"They're all the same, Blake. Why are you trying to justify their actions?" Adam took a step forward, crowding into Blake's personal space.

"I'm not, I just..."

"Really now, because that's not -"

"Hey!" A female ghoul's voice cut through their argument. "What do you think you're doing?"

Adam jumped back and smiled at Blake and the new ghoul. "Just having a discussion, but we're done here." He walked away. "Nice to see you again, Claire."

"C-Claire?" Blake stuttered out, backing away slowly.

"I'm Velvet," she replied. "He sounds like an asshole. I'm not Claire, I promise."

Blake shook her head and turned to sink to the ground, her back to the wall. "Blake."

Velvet sat down next to her. "Nice to meet you. I saw you run in from the Strip, wanted to see if you were okay anyway. I heard there was fighting?"

Blake nodded. "All over now. Somehow a bunch of monsters got in through the sewers."

Velvet shifted, hugging her knees to her chest. "Did everyone make it out okay?"

"Of the sewers?"

Velvet shook her head. "Had friends visiting the Strip today. My partner too." 

"I couldn't tell you. There was so much going on. Anything distinctive?"

"Coco's got a big gun?" she offered.

Blake let out a short laugh and nodded. "Big laser gun that will cut through everything?"

Velvet perked up. "Yeah, that's the one."

"She was in the middle of everything, but she seemed to be holding her own."

Velvet let out a long, shaky breath. "Great."

"Not great?"

"My partner, Fox, was with them. Finishing up some discharge paperwork at the NCR embassy from his time in the army."

"Didn't know the NCR took ghouls," Blake said.

Velvet shook her head. "He's human, blinded in the service. Coco left when they discharged him so he'd have someone to look after him. Was about a year after that they met Yatsuhashi and I. Is that a problem?"

"No!" Blake said, then asked, "Are people mean to him because of you?"

"Coco has this look - I swear she knows when someone's about to say something mean and no one dares say anything then. But Fox... He knows I'm a ghoul. He knows what ghouls look like in general, but people think they're being nice, I guess, to tell him. It hurts." She gave a tiny smile. "Something happen?"

"Someone called Yang a 'zombie fucker' when I kissed her," Blake muttered.

"What'd she say in response?"

Blake shrugged. "Didn't stick around. Didn't really _ask_ if I could kiss her first, just kind of did."

"You should talk to her, then. She's probably worried about you."

"Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!" 

They both jumped a little at the shout, then Velvet peeked out of a crack in the wall. "Oh, that's my people and... three others, with a dog."

"Sounds like my friends," Blake whispered.

"They're looking for you," Velvet pointed out, but Blake shook her head. "I'm going to go out and meet up with my people." She dug out a few food items from her pack - old world, radioactive stuff that was especially good for them. "I'll try and come back."

***

When Velvet emerged from the building, calling out to the group, she watched her companions' faces light up, and their new friends' faces crumple. She went straight to Fox, wrapping her arms around him. "Are you okay? I could hear the fight from here."

"We're fine," he reassured her, running his hands over her arms. "Are you okay? Did fights break out here?"

"No, I'm fine. Who are you guys looking for?"

The one with short dark hair spoke. "Our friend Blake. She ran away after the fight. Yang," she gestured to the blonde, "was going to apologize, but honestly we just want to know she's okay."

"Apologize?" she questioned.

The blonde woman knelt to pet their dog. "Yeah. I kissed her, and apparently she didn't want that and then I got distracted when someone called her a..." she trailed off and shook her head. "By the time I wasn't dealing with that she was gone."

Velvet pulled herself free of Fox's arms to stand next to Yang, leaning down to whisper in her ear, "If you make me regret this, I will make you pay in blood, understood?" She continued only after Yang nodded in agreement. "She's scared, and probably about to bolt. She's in the building I came out of. If you hurt her..."

"I won't. _Thank you_ ," she said, straightening to walk into the building.

***

Blake watched when Velvet left to meet their friends; her gut tightened with jealousy when she saw how easily the ghoul slipped into Fox's arms. 

She turned away when they started talking, but she couldn't leave without drawing attention to herself. She knew what Velvet was trying to do, and it was helping, just a little. Her smile grew just a little when she heard Yang's voice.

Maybe Velvet was right and she could make this work. But maybe Adam was right, and ghouls and humans weren't meant to live together.

She leaned her head against the wall. Life had been so much simpler when she was alone.

Yang's quiet "Hey" caused her to jump, but she managed a smile when Yang sat down next to her. "You okay? You gave us quite the scare. Even Weiss was worried." 

"I'm okay. I just don't know where to go from here."

Yang wrapped her arm around Blake's shoulders. "We'll figure it out." Blake leaned in, curling up under Yang's arm. "And if it's okay with you, I'd like to kiss you again."

Her face lit up and she leaned in to kiss Yang. Maybe this would work out after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's be real. Fallout 4 comes out on the 10th. I'm going to spend the next several days (and weekend) cramming in as many hours of that as I can, so... updates might be delayed just a bit.
> 
> No Fallout 4 spoilers, we'll stick strictly to New Vegas canon.
> 
> Also, fun fact, I had 1,000 words of this prewritten weeks ago. How many of those words did I use? 0, naturally!


	7. Chapter 7

“No, see the NCR’s hold on the area is tenuous at best. That hero type swept through, giving them the upper hand and then ran off without staying around to see that in reality they don’t have the strength to hold the area,” Coco was saying, gesturing with the bottle of whiskey they’d procured for the eight of them and pouring shots. Zwei was curled up under the table they’d sequestered in a corner of the Atomic Wrangler. 

“So what, the NCR should just leave?” Yang asked, making a face at the shot before downing it. 

“Leave and let the rest of us sort it out or actually have a strong enough presence to support the sprawling area. 

They were told how many people, but I don’t think they grasped the enormity of the issue. They just saw a way to get electricity without a high population and decided to invade.”

Fox snorted. “They know they can’t hold it if the Legion were to come back or someone else actually stood up.”

“Like the three families?” Weiss interjected, sniffing the whiskey and quickly handing it off to Yang. 

“Maybe, though without House to unify them, it might be hard. Not that I’d trust them with something like that anyway.” Coco narrowed her eyes. “Do you know something?”

“Mortimer was in a lot of secret meetings with the Omertas and the Chairmen about something. They wanted to take back Vegas from the NCR.” 

“Mortimer.” Weiss flushed at Coco’s tone. “Of the White Glove Society.” She nodded. “I’ve… heard things about him.”

She flushed and looked down at the table. “Probably true.”

“They’re pretty wild. Like he’s a cannibal.”

Weiss nodded. “He brought it back to the White Glove Society. They weren’t for a while, but yeah, they are again now.”

Coco cocked her head. “You were with them, weren’t you?”

“Yes.” 

“That explains the society member who’s looking for someone.” Coco jerked her head to indicate behind Weiss. She looked over her shoulder and flinched. The man was dressed in a fancy suit and was making his way through the Wrangler, checking tables as he went.

“Miss Schnee?” he asked when he saw Weiss, voice muffled by the mask he wore. 

“I presume Mortimer sent you?”

“He was alarmed by the events that transpired today and wishes that you would return home. He regrets that he may have acted in haste and hopes that you will return home for your own safety.”

Weiss looked to the people at the table with her. Ruby gave a sharp shake of her head. Both Blake and Yang were frowning. “No.”

“Excuse me?”

“No. I’m going to stay here. Tell Mortimer I quit.”

“Are you sure, Miss Schnee? It may be unwise to… deny him.”

“Weiss said no.” The messenger jerked back as if Yang had slapped him. She moved her hands to the top of the table, balling them into fists. The soft hydraulic whine of the power fists warming up sent the messenger scurrying. 

“I can actually go if you want,” she muttered to the group, not looking up. “I know this was temporary.”  
Blake licked her lips before responding. “My only concern is that you use a _sword_. That’s not exactly a decent weapon.”

Weiss sat up abruptly, glaring at the ghoul. “You use one too!”

“And a 10 mil, _and_ I know the definition of ‘subtle.’” She looked at Weiss’ dress, still a bright color despite the dirt that had been ground into it over the last few days. 

“If we take the long way ‘round to McCarran we can stop by the Gun Runners,” Fox piped up. “I know Coco could use more ammo.”

“When does Coco _not_ need more ammo?” Velvet muttered. 

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Let’s get some sleep and meet up here in the morning.”

***

Either the thugs of Freeside had decided it was far too early to try and harass them, or they knew that trying to rough up a group of eight warriors armed to the teeth was a bad idea. 

The shop was unusual - a steel and glass construction with a robot boxed inside. Ruby immediately fired up the terminal to browse their inventory. “They have the .308 I need, armor for Weiss… What are you thinking as far as weapons go, Weiss? They have a chainsaw, if you’re looking for a melee weapon with a bigger kick.”

“How about something with a little more range on it?” Coco suggested. “Ever fire a gun?”

“No,” Weiss said, jerking her chin up in an unspoken challenge. 

“Something smaller then, work you up to the gatling lasers.”

“What about a shotgun? They’re pretty handy, don’t have to be a great shot.”

“They’ve got a sawed-off shotgun and plenty of ammo,” Ruby said, keying in their selections. “Anything else?” she asked as she added extra ammo for Blake and Yang. She fed in the majority of their caps when they responded in the negative, watching in fascination as the robot pulled their selections off the shelves in the store and put them in the bin to transfer them outside the kiosk.

Yang claimed the shotgun first, dragging Weiss over to the side to show her how to reload and aim before relinquishing it. 

“Just don’t point it at one of us,” she joked as she handed off the weapon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo update! Short, but I've got a really busy day ahead of me and I've been fighting a migraine this morning, huzzah. :| 
> 
> Moving updates to Fridays because it works better for me. This is just... Second Friday, right?


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I forgot to mention this before, however Yang's mother is _not_ Raven Branwen in this 'verse. I found someone in the Fallout universe whose story seemed to more or less align with Raven's, but I'm keeping her Fallout name. This is primarily because I'm not even sure we knew Raven's name when I started this (I certainly didn't), just some vague details of her story.
> 
> Also, hey, look! Plot! It only took 8 chapters.
> 
> (Also, I'm trying to convince team CFVY to leave but they just want to hang out. They weren't really supposed to be here except for the two scenes. Whoops.)

Blake started to pull away from Yang when she overheard Fox and Coco whispering her name under their breaths.

“Care to share with the group?” Yang asked. They were closing in on the air base. They’d been walking along its outer wall for the last several minutes - the wall towered well above them, a relic from the pre-war days, somehow having escaped the destruction and weathering of the past 200 years.

“The NCR isn’t exactly known for its accepting nature towards ghouls. Coco is proposing we tell them to shove it, while Fox was going to suggest Blake and I wait outside,” Velvet said. “I vote wait out here.”

“From what I’m told, it’s probably best if only those of us who have business inside should head in,” Yatsuhashi said.

"I don't like this." Yang crossed her arms and frowned.

Blake put a hand on her arm and kissed her cheek. "It'll be fine, we'll be here when you four get back. We'll play fetch with Zwei or something."

***

"I'm sorry, but Taiyang Xaio Long left the NCR about ten years ago and never came back. While those orders you have there are a very _good_ forgery, they are a forgery nonetheless. Now, is there anything else I can help you with today?"

"What? No. What about last name of Rose, or Royce?" Yang asked. 

The officer typed for a few more moments. "I'm sorry, but we haven't had any contact with a Taiyang - any last name - in almost a decade. There's nothing more I can do here."

"But -" 

"Dad isn't here, Yang!" Ruby snapped, grabbing her older sister's arm and pulling her out of the office, thanking the officer who'd helped them. "We've hit a dead end. We left a note in Primm saying we were going to New Vegas to find him. Now, I think we should stick around here and try to figure out if we can dig up more clues." Ruby glanced around the large room, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Pyrrha told us about those forgers in Freeside. We can talk to them, see if they know anything about the orders."

Yang's shoulders slumped. "You're probably right. "But why would dad leave those with us?"

"Maybe he didn't know."

"But if he wasn't in the NCR anymore, why would he leave us behind with mom?"

"The 'orders' are dated only a few months after that letter from _your_ mom. Maybe they're connected somehow." Ruby wrapped her arms around herself. "Do you think she knew?"

Grabbing Ruby in a rough hug, Yang answered, "I don't know. But we'll ask when we find him. Let's go see if Fox and Coco are done and go meet up with the rest of the gang."

***

Zwei didn't play fetch. He gave Blake a look clearly stating if she wanted the stick back she'd have to go get it herself. 

"Now what?" Weiss asked, sitting down with her back to the wall. They'd found a spot that had a little shade. "Or what's next?"

"Back to the Followers for us, I think. Coco and Fox are just getting their service records and no doubt harass their old commander. You?" Velvet asked.

Blake shrugged. "It depends on what they find. They're trying to track down their father, I'm just going with them."

"'Them' or Yang?"

"Well, if you want to be technical about it..."

Their soft chuckles were interrupted by two approaching NCR troopers all but dragging a woman between them. "Seriously? I came to _you_ about it and you're dragging me in for 'questioning?'"

"Pyrrha?" Blake shouted, jumping to her feet, the others scrambling up after her as she put herself between them and the entrance to the camp. "What are you doing with my friend?"

The NCR troopers stood up just a little straighter, looking down at Blake. "This doesn't concern you. Move along now."

Trembling slightly, Blake stood up a little straighter. "No."

The door behind her opened with a bang. "Ramirez! What the _fuck_ do you think you're doing?"

"Sergeant Adel!" one of the guards snapped a salute before realizing she was in civilian clothing. "What are you doing here?"

Pyrrha wrenched her arms free of the soldiers and took a step back. "I don't know what you guys think you're doing, but I had nothing to do with the attack. Now I will be more than happy to speak with your commander about what happened, but I'm not going to step foot in your base."

"This isn't a request, ma'am. You need to come with us for questioning."

"By whose authority? I'm not a member of the NCR." Pyrrha took a step back. "I came to you because you were the ones affected." 

Blake's eyes flicked over behind Pyrrha to three more approaching figures - two men and a woman (who was carrying the biggest sledgehammer she had ever seen as though it weighed nothing). "Look, I'm sure we can sort this out peacefully without having to take anyone anywhere."

"Adel." The imposing Asian man who approached from within the camp was dressed in full NCR regalia.

Coco turned to peer over her sunglasses at the man. "Colonel, so nice of you to join us."

"General, now actually. But I'm sure you knew that. When my people told me there was a commotion at the gate and you were involved, I didn't quite believe them. Care to tell me what's going on?"

Blake sighed a little in relief when Ruby, Yang and Fox came out to join them. It still wasn't great odds, but better now. 

Coco looked to Pyrrha, who gestured to the two troopers who had escorted her over. "Someone broke into the Thorn the other night and managed to herd the animals through the sewer system to the New Vegas strip. I don't know who, I have some ideas..."

"The man in white!" the blond newcomer blurted out. "I saw him, he wanted to buy the animals for something and was annoyed when we didn't let him."

"Bowler hat and cane?" Hsu asked. Pyrrha and her partner nodded. "We've had our eye on him for a while now, but we haven't been able to get a lock on him." Blake didn't miss how he glanced at Coco. "If you hear more, let me know. Ramirez, Thompson, let's go."

They let out a collective sigh of relief when the door slammed shut. 

"Pyrrha, are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine. They're just..." she sighed. "They liked the Thorn to train their soldiers and send their scientists to because it was a safe space to learn about the creatures. But as soon as the attacks happened, I was a criminal running an underground fighting ring without a gambling license."

"Next time, I'll break their legs!" The threat would have been laughable from such a short woman if she hadn't accompanied it with a swing from the sledgehammer as big as she was. She gave the group a jaunty salute. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren at your service."


	9. Chapter 9

The twelve of them crammed themselves around one large table, Zwei curled up underneath to avoid any accidental kicks. "Who is this man in white?" Coco asked when they were all settled with their drink of choice.

"Some man in pre-war clothes came into the Thorn a couple of weeks ago trying to buy live animals from me. When I said no, he tried to strong-arm Jaune when I was gone," Pyrrha said, pointing to the quiet blond who had followed them like a lost puppy dog. "I didn't get his name."

"Yatsu, did you see someone of that description at the fight?"

"No one ever asks _me_ if I saw anything," Fox muttered under his breath, a tiny smile playing across his lips, earning him a shoulder-punch from Velvet.

"Maybe. With the Van Graffs, perhaps," Yatsuhashi said.

"A man that fits that description has been nosing around the White Glove Society too," Weiss chimed in. "Lots of secret meetings with Mortimer. But 'Van Graff' is a dirty word there."

Coco tapped the table thoughtfully. "My gun could use a tune-up. We could go to the Silver Rush, see what's going on with the Van Graffs."

"Someone should also see what the three families are up to," Weiss pointed out.

Nora gasped. "We could go undercover in the Strip! Would we have to pose as strippers?"

"There is some logic behind that. The Strip tends to value humans over ghouls and so it may be safest for us four to go," Ren translated. "Probably no need to pretend to be strippers."

"Ghouls. There were ghouls coming into the Strip," Blake said, sitting up. 

"You think they're involved somehow?" Velvet asked. "Or that guy...?" She looked at Blake.

"Adam. Yes. He wouldn't have left California for nothing." 

"It's a weak connection, but something to look into," Ruby said with a nod.

"We should probably head over to the Strip, then and get a room there," Pyrrha said, standing up with Jaune, Nora and Ren. 

"Might as well see if the Silver Rush is open," Coco stood with a stretch.

"She just wants to oggle the guns," Velvet stage-whispered to Blake as they left.

The table looked a lot emptier with just the four of them. "So, Adam?" Yang asked.

"Old friend of mine." Blake shoved Yang when she smirked. "Not like that! Jeez. I just think that with the ghoul presence at the fight he might be involved."

"I'll go flirt with the bartender, see if he knows anything," Yang offered.

"No flirting!" Blake protested, then looked down at her lap. 

"Only with you." Yang leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. "Be right back."

She made her way across the room, sauntering up to the bar with a bright smile, ignoring both Blake's glare and the bartender's unimpressed stare. "So I'm looking for some information about a ghoul."

"Lots a ghouls around," he grunted. 

"Specific ghoul, male named Adam, from former California area."

"Not a clue. Are you going to order anything or just stand there and take up space?"

"Strawberry sunrise, no ice."

The bartender shook his head. "You think you're being so sneaky. Your 'friend' is upstairs, down the hallway to the right, last door on the left. Tell him we charge extra for cleaning if you bring your own girl."

Recoiling in horror, Yang sputtered, "That's my father!"

The bartender rolled his eyes and turned to another customer with a muttered, "Whatever."

Shaking her head, Yang went back to the table where Ruby, Blake and Weiss were discussing their next options.

"All I'm saying is that Adam's presence shouldn't be ignored. We were partners for a long time and if he's come to a human settlement there's a damn good reason."

"We did see a lot of ghouls coming in through the sewers," Ruby said. "I think that it'd be worth looking into."

"So wait, who is this Adam guy again?" Weiss asked.

"He's a ghoul, leader of this... weird group out of vault twelve, better known as Necropolis."

"Oh." Weiss twisted her hands in her lap. "Right."

Yang interrupted the awkward silence that followed. "Sooo, found our first clue."

"Really?" Ruby said, brightening.

"Yeah." Yang sat down next to Blake. "So before dad left, he told me that if I ever needed to find him, I should order a 'strawberry sunrise, no ice' at the bar closest to where I'm staying. 

"If they don't know what I'm talking about, ask them to give anyone who asks for it directions to where I'm staying."

"Wait, why didn't dad give me a code word?" 

"You were barely thirteen! I doubt dad thought I'd ever need it. _Anyway._ So I used it at the bar and he directed me upstairs."

Ruby jumped out of her chair, causing it to fall back and clatter against the floor. "Dad's _here_?"

Yang stood up slowly. "I think so. But I think we should look into..."

But Ruby was already halfway up the stairs to the rooms. 

"We'll stay here," Weiss said, shaking her head.

Yang trudged up the stairs after her sister, forcing a smile when she realized the only reason Ruby stopped was that she didn't know where they were going. "Dad may not be happy to see us."

Ruby's excitement wilted in an instant. "Oh. Right." 

It'd been easy to forget that they came to New Vegas to tell him his partner - Ruby's mother - had died in a fiend attack. "Come on, he can't be too upset," Yang said, wrapping her arm around Ruby's shoulders and nudging her in the right direction. "We're here, and alive, and this time when he asks if I found someone I'm interested in, I can say yes!"

"He always told you to find someone younger than you," Ruby said with a snicker.

Yang laughed. "Yeah, well, can't win them all."

They were both smiling when they knocked on the door Yang had been directed to. They were both a little rougher around the edges, wearing armor and a little older, but they hadn't changed that much since they'd last seen their father. 

The door creaked open and a man emerged, revolver first. Older than even their father, he had a full head of grey hair and a number of facial scars. Drawing the hammer back, he pointed the gun at Yang's forehead. "You ain't Taiyang."

"To be fair, you aren't Taiyang either," Ruby said then clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Now that that's settled; hi, I'm Yang and this is my sister Ruby, Taiyang's daughters." Yang's smile was a little more forced than usual with the gun at her head.

The man squinted at the two of them and then lowered the gun. "You're Christine and Summer's brats?"

"That's us!"

He grunted and holstered the gun, coming out of the room completely. "Knew them way back. Let's go get a drink. You can call me Qrow."

***

The woman pacing to one side of the room was impeccably dressed in pre-war clothing that looked untouched by the passage of time. She looked like a porcelain doll, complete with a parasol to complete the look.

"Torchwick, your promise of a ghoul army is all fine and good, but why should we listen to you? Seems like we're doing just fine," the head of the Omertas asked, leaning back. A quick glance at the Chairmen and White Glove leaders confirmed they were on the same page. 

"See you're not thinking of the future. You're hanging in there now, but the Legion is regaining strength and nipping at the edges of NCR territory again - rumors of the Enclave from the east and surely you've heard that Brotherhood of Steel maniac that's managed to take over the Sierra Madre?" Roman Torchwick, dressed in all white, stood facing the group. "The ghouls are to help turn general opinion against the NCR. But once the NCR is gone, what's next? You three worked well together under House, and are currently united in your hatred of the NCR, but we all know you three don't play well together. 

"So I propose an alliance. I would like you all to meet my associate - the last descendant of House, the bearer of the Platinum Chip and the only resident of the Lucky 38 - Neopolitan." 

She brightened at the introduction, stepped forward with a deep bow punctuated by a vicious smile and blew them a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so a few things:
> 
> 1) 500 views. O.O Thank you. Seriously, thank you. I'm not sure how or why that happened, but thank you for indulging me in my weird fusion/crossover fic.  
> 2) I finally got CFVY to leave! (Temporarily).  
> 3) Some of my favorite lines of dialogue are from this chapter.  
> 4) Okay so I did a tiny tweak to the tags and one chapter. When I started writing this, I didn't think the Courier (the player character) from Fallout: New Vegas would come into it at all. So, I tagged it 'Female Courier' had a throw away line about Winter leaving the White Glove Society when the Courier passed through and left it at that. As this developed and grew, I discovered that the Courier would be playing a role and would need to be male. I am also aware that 99.9% of you probably didn't notice the gender, but it would have eaten at me to not mention it.
> 
> I am curious though, do any of you play the Fallout games? Or are there any of you who only play the Fallout games and don't watch RWBY?


	10. Chapter 10

“ _This_ is your father?” Weiss all but shouted when Ruby and Yang approached the table, Qrow following behind them carrying a bottle of whiskey. The man’s graying hair was unusual for the wasteland, though the radiation scarring on his hands was more likely the culprit than old age.

“I guess she just refers to everyone like that,” Yang muttered under her breath.

“Nope. No idea who this guy is,” Ruby said, sitting down next to Weiss.

Yang sat down next to Blake, and gestured to Qrow. “Care to introduce yourself?”

“Well, presuming at least one of you is Christine’s kid, I guess that makes me your uncle.” He looked at Yang. “You neglected to mention that you were traveling with a Schnee.”

“What?” Yang said, voice flat.

“Does that mean Winter’s with you?” Weiss asked, sitting up a little straighter.

Qrow laughed, leaning back in his chair. “Nope. She and Veronica split as soon as they could. Didn’t expect to see you out here. Doing Mortimer’s dirty work still?”

Weiss sputtered in indignation. “I never did Mortimer’s dirty work.”

“Could we stay on topic, please? Why are you here and why did Yang and Ruby think you were their father?” Blake interrupted, drawing Qrow’s attention.

“Like I said, Christine’s brother. I was with her when she met Summer and Taiyang. The codeword you used was Taiyang’s. He probably didn’t explain it fully, did he?”

“He just said it was a way to find him. So you don’t know where dad is?”

“Well. In a sense.” He leaned back and cracked open the bottle, taking a healthy sip. “See, I suspect he got word from Christine around the same time I did. As much as I wanted to help at the time, I was a little busy wrapping up business over at the dam and couldn’t really help. By the time I got to the Sierra Madre, they were gone, along with all trace of Elijah and the weapons he supposedly hijacked from the casino. So he’s presumably with Christine, but where she is, I don’t know.”

“That’s less than helpful. Tell me why I bought you a drink again?”

“Because I know what’s going on around here. This wasn’t just some random attack on the Strip, this is part of the ongoing war that the NCR is trying to say ended with the second battle at Hoover Dam.”

“The NCR did take power though,” Blake pointed out. 

“With your help!” Weiss added.

“Not this again,” Qrow said, rolling his eyes. “No. I helped the NCR throw out the old regime with the understanding that they would establish a proper presence here, which they never did. I still maintain that they were better than any of the alternatives.” He glared at Weiss. “Especially if I let the the three families have their way.”

She held her hands up in surrender. “You’ll get no argument from me. You didn’t stop Mortimer, by the way, only delayed him.”

Qrow shrugged. “Wasn’t trying to start a bloodbath there, figured best if I stayed out of it. White Glove Society wants to eat people? Not much is going to stop them. Winter was just smart enough to get out of there when I gave her the chance.”

“So, what, we should just let it run its course? Our friends are caught up in it. They don’t have the luxury of just leaving!” Ruby protested. 

He waved it off with the whiskey bottle. “No, look. The last time I got involved, I screwed everything up. Told myself I wasn’t going to get involved again, but then Christine sent word…” he trailed off, then pulled out a bundle of papers that looked suspiciously like the faked NCR orders Yang and Ruby were carrying. “Look, if I try to get involved, I’ll likely just screw it up again.”

He passed over one that just had coordinates, date and time slated for two days from then. “It’s just outside of north Vegas; the old H&H Tool factory.”

“That’s a death trap. No one’s been able to go in and live to tell the tale for years - even the fiends stay clear when they’re too strung out on chems to remember which way to point their gun,” Blake said. “You can’t possibly expect us to go there on nothing more than your word.”

“It’s two days out. You could go scope out the area and see what’s going on.” He pulled out another sheet of paper and glanced over the top of it at Blake. “Christine said there’d been an increase of ghoul activity in that area.”  
She met his gaze. “Have something to say about it?”

“Do you?”

“Oookay. I don’t need my uncle and girlfriend fighting, all right?” Yang interrupted. “We’ll go check out the factory, see what we can find. You can hold down the fort here and let our friends know where we’ve gone if they come back first?”

“Yeah, sure.” He held up the bottle of whiskey that already contained more air than booze. “I’ll have myself another drink. Don’t get yourselves killed. Your parents would kill me.” He stopped and set his drink down. “Where is Summer, by the way? She wouldn’t have gone with Taiyang to find Christine with you two so young still.”

Yang looked across the table at her sister, then down at her lap. “She died a few weeks back, fiends came through Primm. We buried a lot of friends after that raid. We were trying to find dad to tell him. All we had was a letter from my mom that just said something about the power fists he’d given me a couple years prior and orders for the NCR that turned out to be a forgery.”

“It’s how we sent messages. The Brotherhood of Steel are sneaky bastards, don’t let their self-righteousness fool you.” His words were flat, automatic. He’d lost what little enthusiasm he’d had before learning of Summer’s death. “I might need a few minutes alone,” he mumbled, staring down at the bottle.

Yang stood and clasped his shoulder. “We’ll be back, uncle.” She jerked her head towards the door, and the rest of them followed quietly behind her out into the bright glare of the Mojave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are days when I have an extensive multi-step editing process. And then there are days like today where it's past 2 a.m. the day after my posting day, I've barely got my 1,000 words and I'm begging for sleep. I wanted to get this up before I headed out of town for a few days - I should be back in plenty of time to get next week's chapter up on Friday (or Second Friday).
> 
> (Yes, I know that Veronica and Christine were hinted at being lovers in New Vegas but since Christine got aged up I abandoned that in favor of this. Also I'm not sure how big a "bottle" is in New Vegas but you could drink an alarming amount of booze without dying if they were fifths, so I'm thinking somewhere in the 2-3 shot size.)


	11. Chapter 11

The harsh glare of the Mojave didn’t do anything to brighten their spirits. Weiss and Ruby immediately began to bicker about which way around the New Vegas Strip was the best way to get to the tool factory before the four of them decided to go around the east side - Ruby and Weiss still bickering along the way.

“Girlfriend?” Blake asked Yang, giving her a small nudge. She couldn't quite keep the smile off her face as she asked.

Yang shrugged, returning the smile. “Got the two of you to stop arguing for a bit, didn’t it? Is that okay?”

“You haven’t even taken me out on a date yet,” she protested weakly.

“Oh, are vault raiding and monster killing no longer considered dates?” Yang let out a dramatic sigh. "I didn't know you were so picky!"

“I’m not so sure they ever were.” Blake threw her arm over Yang’s shoulders. “But I get this feeling it’s the best I’ll get out of you.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing!” Yang said with a laugh, kissing Blake's cheek. She all but ran into her sister, who had stopped abruptly in the middle of the street.

“See! I told you this would be quicker,” Ruby said, gesturing to the large building a half a block away. It was mostly intact, especially when compared to the crumbling buildings around it, it looked almost new.

“I never said it wouldn’t! I was just trying to say taking the _other_ way might be less conspicuous," Weiss shouted back, hands on her hips.

“You know what’s less conspicuous?” Blake asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Not yelling at one another about how to get to our destination a block away from our destination.”

“Uh, guys?” Yang interrupted, eyeing the multiple piles of ash that littered the block in front of them. “Not to interrupt this important conversation, but I think maybe we should find somewhere else to go.”  
As if summoned by Yang's statement, a large securitron rolled past in silence, sweeping back and forth looking for any sign of life. It turned towards them as if considering shooting but just waited, weapons at the ready.

They seemed to be on the opposite side of an invisible line - this side was safe, the other involved getting turned into a pile of ash. “Maybe we should go…” Weiss said, taking a step back.

“Yeah…” Yang agreed. They didn’t turn around, simply backed up until they could turn a corner and be out of the sight of the robot. “That… wasn’t good.”

Ruby pointed to a tall building they had passed. “We could see if that building is intact enough to get a better view. We have another two days before we have to figure out something closer.”

The rickety stairs that had stood for over two hundred years threatened to collapse beneath them. They managed to climb three flights of stairs without issue though.

"Wait, Yang!" Blake hissed as the blonde started to open the door at the top, but it was too late to alert her to the disturbed rubble she'd seen, possibly pointing to someone coming through recently.  
Yang instead found herself with a gun pointed at her head for the second time that day. "Dad?" she asked, too startled to react to the gun.

“Dad?” Ruby squeezed in beside Yang, effectively blocking Weiss and Blake from seeing what was going on. 

“Yang? Ruby? What are you two doing here?” her father asked, lowering his weapon. He looked a lot older than when they had last seen him, his blond hair starting to grey in places and noticeably more stress lines around his eyes.

“What is with family members pointing guns at my head today?” Yang muttered. “Trying to find you!” she said more loudly.

A woman who had been lurking in the shadows stepped forward. She was completely bald and had several surgically straight lines crossing her face and head. “Is…” she winced at the sound of her own voice. “Is Summer with you?”

Taiyang peered around Ruby. “Summer?” he asked, hopeful, smile fading a bit when Weiss and Blake shoved Ruby out of the way to reveal only the four of them and Zwei - who whined, wagging his tail.  
“I haven’t seen her in, god, must be twelve years now? I miss her terribly.”

“Go on, Zwei,” Yang said, causing him to bound forward and topple into dad, who immediately began petting him. She looked at Ruby, whose eyes were filling with tears, then looked down. They had wondered about Christine and Summer, especially with the rumors around Primm. The confirmation was nice, but it made this a lot harder.

“Summer didn’t come to New Vegas with you, did she?” Taiyang said, straightening. 

“Did she stay in Primm?” Christine asked, looking between Ruby and Yang for an answer.

Ruby shook her head, throwing herself at their father as she burst into tears. 

Yang focused on a spot on the wall behind them. “There was an attack. Fiends. There were so many of them.” Blake slipped an arm around her waist. “She died keeping them off us,” she said, voice hollow, detached. 

“Summer’s… gone?” Christine asked, eyes filling with tears.

Yang looked up to the ceiling and blinked a few times. “She’s gone.” She wouldn’t cry. Ruby needed her and Blake needed her and New Vegas needed her and her father needed her and Christine - her mother, she reminded herself - needed her. She didn’t need to cry. 

It was supposed to be easy. Find dad, tell him the horrible news, and convince him to come home and take care of them. Not… whatever this was. Zwei whined a little and licked at Yang’s limp hand.   
“Qrow?” Christine asked.

“Drinking at the Atomic Wrangler last we saw him,” Weiss said when it became apparent neither Ruby nor Yang had the voice to answer. “He asked us to come to the H&H Tools Factory thing in his place.”  
“He doesn’t want to get involved,” Blake added. “We already were.”

Ruby pulled away from their father with a final sniffle, rubbing at her red eyes. “We want to help.”

"He doesn't get to choose not to be involved, he created half this mess in the first place!" Christine growled, stalking further into the room. They had cleared most things between the door and the shattered window that overlooked the H&H building. 

"Are you sure you want to get involved?" their dad asked, looking around at the four of them. 

"We're already involved," Blake said, stepping forward. "We just don't want to get in your way - or for you to get in ours."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You will have to pry poly Raven/Summer/Taiyang out of my cold, dead hands. I will fight you if you disagree. (Not tagging the story as such because of the weird fusion character issue).
> 
> Okay, so the like four hour drive home took closer to nine, so here we are a few hours late. (I try to keep my tumblr updated with stuff like that as soon as I know.)
> 
> We're actually closing in on the end here. I've got the rest of the story outlined, more or less. It's hard to tell how many more chapters it will be because it's hard to tell how it will translate into reasonably sized chapters, but I'm estimating about 15ish total chapters.
> 
> Still playing Fallout 4 and I realize I don't quite want to be done with this crossover quite yet even as I near the end of this, so starting to take notes for a Fallout 4 crossover. Would be significantly different, because of [spoilers].


	12. Chapter 12

“This doesn’t prove she is who you claim she is,” Mortimer said as he strolled into the meeting room at the top of the H&H Tools Factory. “Just because you were able to get in past the defenses on this place doesn’t mean she’s a House. Anyone could do it given the time and resources.”

“We know the securitrons went down, but you can’t prove you caused it for certain. I still have reservations about working with the ghouls and Van Graffs.” The leader of the Omertas did nothing to hide his distaste.

“I don’t see any ghouls here, do you?” Cinder, the leader of the Van Graffs, stepped forward from the shadows. Like most of the leaders, she had chosen pre-war clothing that was kept in pristine condition over the years - in this case, a slinky dress that hugged her curves. “They are a means to an end, nothing more. Once we have finished what we started here they will be… unnecessary. The NCR hold on the area is weak. The ghouls come in, proving they can’t control what types of people come into the area, drumming up support for our cause. The NCR is driven out, then we take care of our little ghoul problem, thus securing our place as the new ruling class.” Cinder walked around behind the Omertas’ leader and placed a hand on his shoulder. “And without us you wouldn’t know that people are suspicious of the Three Families. People in Freeside know something is up. They’re wary of the NCR but at the same time hostile to the likes of you. How were you going to win them over? Or do you want them to riot when you’re vulnerable after taking out the ghouls - because without us, you don’t have the firepower to go up against them either.

“Plus, do you really want us as your _enemy_?” Cinder drummed her fingers on the table.  
“The Van Graffs are part of the deal,” Roman said, slamming his hand on the desk and silencing any further debate. "Now, can we please continue?"

***  
“So what’s the plan, camp out here for the next couple of days?” Weiss asked. They had settled on various perches in the ruined office building, only Weiss was brave enough to attempt an actual chair. Ruby sat near the broken window, one eye on the street outside. 

“We could swing around the other side of the building, cover both sides,” Yang offered.

Blake nodded in agreement. “Coco and them might be willing to cover another side - I don’t know if they’re back yet.”

“Well _someone_ just kicked me out of my spot at the Wrangler saying I wasn’t you four so I’d best leave. I presume they’re your friends?” Qrow’s voice from the doorway made them all jump. “Did you just pick the tallest building in the are and camp out here?”

“Never knew you to back down from a fight, Qrow.” Christine stood and hugged her brother.

He gave her a gentle shove. “I learned my lesson about arguing with someone who had a gatling laser when I didn’t, thank you very much.”

“Finally,” Christine muttered under her breath. 

Qrow rolled his eyes before continuing. “So what _is_ the plan?” 

“Was hoping to get in on the meeting somehow, but with the securitrons in the area, we’re probably out of luck. I was thinking just try to see who goes in from here.”

Qrow frowned. “The securitrons? I thought the NCR had a handle on them.”

“Well, it seems as though some of them at least defected, joining these guys,” Taiyang said, nodding towards the factory building.

“They were _all_ shut down, though, when the Strip was attacked. No matter what we’re planning, we’re going to have to account for an army of securitrons against us,” Blake said from her seat on a desk next to Yang.

Qrow raised an eyebrow. “I might actually be able to help out with that.”

***

Qrow’s room at the Wrangler was an absolute mess. It looked like an armory had crossed paths with a surgeon’s practice and then a nuke went off somewhere in the middle. Just about every type of gun, ammo, armor and medical supply you could think of was strewn about the room.

“And he can help?” Velvet clearly didn’t believe them.

As promised, Coco, Velvet, Yatsuhashi and Fox had been at the table when they got back. Taiyang and Christine had remained near the factory with Zwei, promising to keep an eye on any further development while they found their friends and figured out if Qrow could actually help. 

“I’m starting to have doubts myself.” Yang eyed the mess before stepping over what looked suspiciously like a grenade launcher towards a dresser. “What are we looking for again?”

“Poker chip. It’s metal, though. House kept going on about how it was going to change the world or something…”

Yang opened the top drawer and started looking, the rest eventually joining in. 

Eventually it was Ruby who seemed to have found it - or more specifically _them_. “Uh, is this it?” she asked, looking into a small box of a few dozen poker chips made from a silver metal.

Qrow craned his neck to look at them. “Nah, but that’s the same idea. It’ll be on its own. Those are the ones I found in House’s place. They’re good party favors. You tell people it’s the platinum chip and they’re falling over themselves to take it off your hands.” He rummaged around in the back of a nightstand. “Ah ha!” Qrow held up the specific one he was looking for, though it was indistinguishable from the rest. “House lost this one for over 200 years, but kept trying to recreate it.” He nodded to the box of chips Ruby had. “But this is the one I got shot in the head over.”

“What does it do?” Weiss asked, picking up one of the fake ones.

“It’s some sort of program that affects the securitrons.”

“Yes, but what does it _do_?”

Qrow opened his mouth as if to answer, then stopped. “You know, I honestly have no idea.”

***

“So we get you to the Fort, hope that Caesar’s Legion has actually cleared out as you claim, then you put the chip into a slot and…?” The head of the Omertas was clearly less than impressed. 

Neo smiled, flashing far more teeth than was strictly necessary. 

“The securitrons have far more firepower than their programming allows. Once we give them this new program, they’ll be able to access their missile launchers, at which point, we will be poised to attack the NCR. Once the NCR is out of the picture, we’ll drive out the ghouls and secure our position of power in the Mojave.” Roman leaned forward with a small smirk. “Any more questions?”


	13. Chapter 13

Of course, just because you have a plan doesn’t mean that everyone is going to cooperate with the plan.

It was supposed to be easy - Taiyang and Christine were going to stay in Westside and keep an eye on the meeting that was supposed to take place in a couple of days while Qrow helped Ruby, Yang, Blake and Weiss get to the Fort and deal with the securitrons. Coco and her group were going to stay around the Strip to make sure things didn't fall apart there and wait for Pyrrha and the rest to check in.

It was a good plan in theory, so naturally it all went to hell before it even started.

Step one was to let Taiyang and Christine know.

Which of course is when everything went to hell.

“What are they doing?” Ruby asked, peering out at the factory through her sniper rifle.

“Placing… mines? Why are the securitrons placing mines around the factory?” Yang said, lowering the pair of binoculars.

“Somehow I don’t think that bodes well,” Weiss said, taking the binoculars from Yang, studying the robots’ movements.

“Those aren’t mines,” Christine said. “Those are demolition charges. We need to go. _Now!_.”

They scrambled, gathering their weapons and beating a hasty retreat into Westside, barely making it out onto the dusty streets and a block away in time before the explosions sounded, collapsing the factory with a series of mostly-controlled explosions.

They still had to dodge a couple of falling bricks that had shaken loose in the explosion - and the building they had been in was tilting sideways.

“I thought you said the meeting was _tomorrow_!” Weiss half-asked, half-protested.

“That’s when Elijah said it was going to take place,” Christine protested with a croak.

“And you believed him?” Qrow demanded.

“No! I thought I’d independently verified the information.”

Weiss threw her hands up. "Could we please focus? Can anyone else hear sounds of fighting coming from the Strip - again?"

A small mushroom cloud bloomed, coming up just barely over the wall.

"We leave them alone for _five minutes_..." Blake said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

***

Meanwhile, halfway across the Mojave, Roman and Neo were paddling a small half-rotted raft across the Colorado River, closing in on the imposing structure known as The Fort. On the far side, a dirt ramp lead up to a half-open gate, revealing what was once a large camp of Legion soldiers. 

Now even the bodies had been picked over until they were just skeletons. Everything else of use had been picked over long before. 

Neopolitan was less than impressed with the area and their bodyguards that the Three Families had sent along for 'protection.' 

She twisted the parasol she carried around in her hands, glaring up at Roman as they made their way to the back of the Fort.

The bunker was hidden in an unassuming metal shack through a locked trapdoor that Roman was able to pry open with little trouble.

They climbed down into a room with a simple reinforced door that opened with the Platinum chip and a couple of quick commands entered into the terminal.

The door opened without a sound, revealing a huge supercomputer with a keyboard, a slot for the chip and a monitor that took up one wall.

"All right, Neo, you're up," Roman said, stepping back to watch her work.

She leaned her parasol against the machine - she was just barely tall enough to reach the keyboard - and slipped the chip into the slot, smiling as the computer whirred to life.

***

The Strip was a nightmare. The Securitrons had turned on the NCR while the Three Families and a horde of ghouls swamped the city.

The sheer number of foes was daunting - even with the NCR's help they were outnumbered at least two to one in just numbers.

Blake didn't want to think about how the Securitrons were more like five top-level soldiers.

She evaluated the scene - the barriers between the sections of town were still ripped down so there was simply a large swath of land, peppered with small craters from Nora's fat man. Their allies were scattered across the open area - doing poorly against the seemingly never-ending stream of foes.

"Securitrons should be our highest priority," Ruby said. "Those are the big baddies."

Blake side-eyed the person in a suit of power armor, but was otherwise inclined to agree. He was one man - there were a couple dozen of the Securitrons. She scanned the battle and found one that had cornered Velvet, grabbing the thing's attention so she could get away.

But instead of running off when the Securitron turned to face Blake, she darted forward, prying open a panel as quick as could be and ripping out a handful of wires, disabling it in less than thirty seconds.

The two of them shared a nod of understanding and they moved on to the next robot, Blake moving in to distract it while Velvet circled around to attempt to disable it. 

It shut down abruptly, though, before either woman was in position - the monitor on its front going blank.

The stutter in the battle around them made it clear this was not an isolated incident, with every Securitron shutting down simultaneously. 

Blake leaned in and tapped the screen, jumping back when lines of code filled it - flying by line after line too rapidly to be read. It flickered again, but with a soldier's face instead of a cop's. It whirred, the two 'shoulder' like sections opening to reveal banks of missiles.

"Oh shit," she said, diving for cover, but no attack came. It had shut down again and was attempting another restart.

Only to stutter at the last minute and shut down.

"Somehow I don't think that's what was supposed to happen," Velvet said, ripping out the wires on this one as well.

***

The reactor was smoking and the chip in the terminal had literally melted from the heat the super computer was giving off trying to run the program she'd put into it.

"Neo?" Roman asked, voice raising an octave. "What's happening?"

The Platinum chip... wasn't. A good fake designed to disable the robots - she had caught a glimpse of the code before the computer started an endless reboot sequence, causing things to overheat and she couldn't find anything to turn it off.

She drew a thumb across her neck and grabbed her parasol, pulling out the long thin blade concealed in the handle and turning to the bodyguards who were poised to attack the two of them.

Roman nodded and stood by her side, pulling his own weapon out.

Eight on two. They could do this.

***

When it became apparent the robots were stuck on perpetual reboot cycles, the ghouls ran.

Blake couldn't blame them. Without the firepower to back them up, they were far more vulnerable. She heard Adam's voice ordering the retreat over the renewed fight between the NCR and the Three Families - she still couldn't quite get out of the habit of listening for his orders in the heat of battle.

No one tried to stop them, instead focusing on the remainder of the Three Families and the Van Graffs and in particular the figure in power armor that appeared to be leading them.

Christine and Qrow were laying into the figure with deadly accuracy and the NCR soldiers were beginning to push forward and regroup.

Blake followed Velvet still, learning to disable the robots to ensure they weren't getting back up and watching the woman's back, taking out the thugs in suits as they went.

She didn't see who delivered the final blow to the man in power armor, only heard the cry of victory and the thud as his body hit the ground.

With their leader dead, the ghouls on the run and the robots deactivated, the remaining members of the Three Families and the Van Graffs surrendered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy hell I'm sorry this took so long. Volume 3 kinda blindsided me bigtime and I lost the thread of the story - yes, two chapters from the end.
> 
> This is the last official chapter. The next chapter is an epilogue and is already mostly written. Sorry again for disappearing!


	14. Credits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And roll credits.

And so, the sisters who had set out through the Wasteland in search of their father, found him and more friends along the way. 

After the battle of the New Vegas Strip, the Chairmen, Omertas and White Glove Society, collectively known as the Three Families, as well as the Van Graffs, including Cinder, were driven out of New Vegas by the New California Republic and went back to a nomadic life where old feuds reignited as they were forced to compete for limited resources.

New Vegas itself eventually became a ruined, dead city. Without the Strip drawing travellers, Westside and Freeside eventually became nothing more than a couple of insignificant farming settlements.

The New California Republic eventually withdrew from Camp McCarran to the Hoover Dam, and eventually, when they realized they didn't have the capabilities to keep up the repairs, withdrew from the Mojave all together.

Christine finally had caught up with Elijiah and her past, killing him for his crimes. She was able to return home to Primm with Qrow and Taiyang, where all three of them made their peace with Summer's passing as well.

Ruby, having found the call to adventure, headed east with the Followers of the Apocalypse until she found the ruins of Boston, where she met a young woman unlike any she'd ever met before named Penny and continued her adventures there.

Blake went back west to California with Yang, in search of Adam and the ghouls from Necropolis, becoming an advocate for ghouls' rights wherever she went. 

Weiss also headed west, taking a more northern track, looking for answers about her Schnee heritage and the Vault-Tec legacy.

Pyrrha and Jaune wandered the Wasteland, studying the new fauna and teaching others how to live in harmony with them. They eventually stumbled upon a place only known as the Big Empty that gave them answers they never wanted to know about the origins of the new beasts.

Fox headed east with Velvet, following promises of a ghoul haven in the Capital ruins. Coco and Yatsuhashi followed, establishing a new outpost for the Followers of the Apocalypse there.

Ren and Nora followed the trail of the Legion, trying to find answers about their family and the New Canaanites. 

Roman and Neo made it out of the Fort in one piece, but after hearing of the destruction of the Strip and the defeat of their army, they disappeared into the Wasteland. 

And so the friends who had met so briefly at a crossroads in their lives went their separate ways, having changed the face of the Mojave forever. But in the end, the bloodshed never stopped, because while the landscape and faces may change... war? War never changes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it holy shit. 
> 
> Honestly I've had 90% of this chapter written since about chapter 8. 
> 
> I'm still not sure how so many people read this? Honestly I got in way over my head and while I really enjoyed writing this fic it's going to be a while before I tackle something this big and this AU again. But thank you so much for reading and sticking with it. 
> 
> (Yes, there's a Fallout 4 crossover in the works, working title of Remnants of the Commonwealth. No, I haven't finished even one play through of the game. Yes, I already have extensive plans.)

**Author's Note:**

> There are some stories that just don't fit into the main story-line that I've written and they can be found here: [Fallout: Remnant Drabbles](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4915237/chapters/11276119). If you have any requests for other drabbles let me know and I'll see what I can do. I've marked it as complete just because I don't have anything else planned, but I'm open to ideas!
> 
> Find me on [Tumblr](http://marykay91.tumblr.com/).


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